TASSA President Ünal Expresses Opinion on Turkey's Efforts on Reversing Brain Drain

Since 2007, the Turkish Government has developed incentive programs for Turkish scientist and scholars working outside of Turkey to reverse the brain drain that has been eroding Turkey’s intellectual capacity for years.  As a result of these programs, the R&D budget was increased, new sponsored programs were created, and several regulatory changes put in place to encourage reverse brain-migration.  However, these efforts created only limited success.  So far only 541 scientists/scholars have moved back to Turkey.

TASSA President Haluk Unal answered the questions of Başak Çubukçu, a producer for Al Jazeera Turk Digital Magazine in a related piece published on the website of Al Jazeera Turk.

“To serve Turkey, one does not have to be necessarily living in Turkey,” said Unal. “Turkey would benefit from scientists or scholar even if they are living abroad in countries such as the United States. “

Prof Unal used a relay race analogy to describe the reason scientists have for not returning to Turkey. “By being in the United Stated, you are in an international race. It is not a 1500 meter race or a marathon, it is a relay race. In other words, it is a team work. You work as a team, and you win as a team.  It is very difficult to establish teams like that in Turkey” he said. “Doing scientific work and creating new knowledge is a matter of culture. Unfortunately, we have not been able to establish that culture in Turkey yet. “

The full article by Başak Çubukçu can be read here.